1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to therapeutic gloves and more particularly pertains to therapeutic gloves which may be used to provide heat and pressure to relieve hand pain in those people with arthritic hands and similar conditions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of a therapeutic heated glove is known in the prior art. More specifically, gloves heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of warming hands are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,003, which issued to Rinehart on Jul. 30, 1991, discloses a liquid heat transfer glove which includes a partially filled bladder of a heat-transferring liquid, whereby a user's hand may be comfortable in extreme temperature conditions.
A pressure glove for use in low atmospheric pressure conditions is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,801,988 which issued to Marcum, Jr. et al. This device provides for an increase in the pressure around a user's hand when abnormal atmospheric pressure conditions are encountered.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,868, which issued to Moss, et al. on Aug. 21, 1990, discloses a heated glove which includes a battery pack mounted on the back of the glove.
None of the above mentioned patents discloses a glove which provides pressure as well as heat treatment to provide therapeutic relief to the hand of the wearer.
In this respect, the glove according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing relief from hand pain to those persons with arthritic hands and similar conditions.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for new and improved therapeutic gloves which can be used to ease pain in a user's hand. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.